FAITH MATTERS: Noise, North Korea and Trump

Rev. Daniel Payne

Saturday

Sep 23, 2017 at 12:01 AM

In the "Sutta Nipata," the Buddha is recorded to have said, “Know from the rivers in clefts and in crevices: those in small channels flow noisily, the great flow silent. Whatever’s not full makes noise. Whatever is full is quiet.” Recently, the world has become increasingly aware of two empty heads of nuclear states, their bellicosity belying any notion that either one is full of anything other than a massive ego.

I do not wish to imply a perfect correlation between the Kim Jong-Un regime of North Korea and the Trump administration of the United States. Despite the horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by the United States from the near eradication of the indigenous peoples encountered by settlers and the genocidal policies these natives have faced up to the present day to the collateral damage resulting from the carpet bombing of the Middle East, North Korea is still hell in comparison – at least within in its borders and for its own people.

South Korea was my home for more than 10 years. During that time, I came to learn many things about ancient Korean culture and history as well 20th century Korean history. I learned that Russia and the United States were (and are) mostly to blame for the divided peninsula. I learned that a perverted dependence on Confucian deference to authority plays a large role in the ability of the Kim regime to brainwash and control the citizens of the North. I met a few North Korean refugees who finally made it to the South after a winding journey throughout southeast Asia. Though many of these refuges had discovered a burning hatred for the Kims, they did not possess any love for the US.

Now that Trump has threatened “fire and fury” on the North, there have been three missile tests and one nuclear test, the energy of which was one hundred times greater than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. According to many experts, the tips of the mid-range intercontinental ballistic missiles test-fired by the regime in the past two months can hold a nuclear warhead. North Korea is already a nuclear power. Neither UN sanctions nor hyperbolic threats from the US president can prevent that.

I will be the first to say I do not envy the responsibilities of the presidency. I would not want that office, and while I have serious issues with the current occupant, I do respect the position. When it comes to North Korea, the only options seem to be diplomacy or full-scale invasion. The current administration appears to be playing “good cop, bad cop,” depending on who’s at the mic, but a clear strategy seems to be lacking.

On May 1, 2017, Trump said in an interview that he would be willing to sit down with Kim Jong-Un “under the right circumstances.” While controversial, I wonder what could have happened if Trump had sat down with Kim rather than threaten “fire and fury?” Might tensions have de-escalated, and the Korean peninsula (and the world) be a safer place today?

Who knows what such a meeting would have produced, but it likely would have gone down in history as either the beginning of the greatest achievement or the chief failure of the Trump presidency. But I think it would have been worth the chance. If I were to occupy that office, it’s the chance I would have taken. Alas, now we’re left with worthless sanctions or a war that will cost tens of millions of lives in the first few days. That might still be true had a meeting between Kim and Trump occurred, but we’ll never know. Trump’s bluster has seen to that.

“Whatever’s not full makes noise.” The emptiness within both Kim and Trump is a void seeking filling, a void which craves approval and attention above all else. The “sea of fire” language is quintessentially North Korean, but it’s something new from the office of the American presidency. It’s not yet clear whether Trump’s language is purposefully excessive, but if it’s not, I fear we’ve been set on an irreversible path of increased tensions and possible devastation.

What we need now more than ever is a president who “flows silently,” who thinks before he speaks and seeks wise counsel before he acts. Regrettably, we have a president who prefers to “flow noisily,” believing bluster to be preferable to peace and tranquility. His presidency reflects his spirit: chaotic, insecure, and needy.

More grounded views may win out. Thankfully, some advisers in the Trump administration prefer dialogue and diplomacy to a war to end all wars. One can only hope these voices of reason triumph.
The Rev. Daniel Payne is an ordained minister with the Progressive Christian Alliance and director of religious education and community outreach at Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church in Harvard, Massachusetts. He is the author of “From Faith to Freedom: A Gay Man’s Escape From Christian Fundamentalism,” which will be published in the fall of 2017 by Apocryphile Press.. He may be reached at syndicatedcolumn@gmail.com.

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